| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanese MPs fail to elect president for 8th time |
| 2014-07-03 |
| [ARABNEWS] Lebanese politicians failed to elect a president on Wednesday, for the eighth time, to succeed Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... whose term ended in May, prolonging a political vacuum as the country struggles with violence, economic decline and an influx of Syrian refugees. The civil war in neighboring Syria has aggravated long-standing rivalries in Leb, where political power is divided among religious communities — the presidency goes to a Maronite Christian, the Parliament speaker is a Shiite and the prime minister a Sunni. Parliament speaker Nabil Berri said he would postpone a vote for a new president until July 23 because not enough parliamentarians turned up to the assembly on Wednesday. Political groups have boycotted sessions in recent weeks and blamed each other for the deadlock. |
| Posted by:Fred |